Mathematica

Mathematica is a computational software program used in scientific, engineering, and mathematical fields and other areas of technical computing. Mathematica seamlessly integrates a numeric and symbolic computational engine, graphics system, programming language, documentation system, and advanced connectivity to other applications.

License Information

VCU participates in the statewide license for Mathematica, Mathematica Online and Wolfram AlphaPro from Wolfram Research Inc. The Wolfram applications, obtained under this VCU site license, may be used:

by VCU faculty, staff and students

for VCU related research and instruction

on University-owned computers

on personally owned computers

Mathematica, under the cross-platform license, provides an unlimited number of copies running at any time. The VCU Mathematica license agreement includes "Home Use" licenses for faculty and staff. Home-use licenses are restricted to a desktop computer or laptop owned by the employee. Home-use licenses are automatically registered to the individual who requests the license and may not be transferred to another individual. The Mathematica versions available for use under this site license include:

Mathematica for Windows

Mathematica for Mac

Mathematica for Linux

Mathematica Online was added to the university site license in June 2018. All users must sign up for a Wolfram account and subscribe to Mathematica Online. You may access Mathematica Online from a desktop or mobile device using a Web browser or Mobile app.

Mathematica on App2Go is available for use without installing the application on your computer. Mathematica is accessed via a Web browser using a Windows, Mac or Linux computer from the App2Go Server. Five (5) concurrent user licenses of Mathematica are available for use by VCU researchers on the App2Go Server.

Mathematica for VCU Owned Computers

Mathematica is available to download and install on your computer for the supported formats. Mathematica licenses must be renewed annually to maintain an active application.

Download and install:

Faculty/staff may register and download Mathematica 11.3.0 and 11.2.0 for installation on University-owned workstations:

Mathematica Faculty/Staff Home-Use Licenses

Each individual approved for a home-use license is issued a unique license number and provided with a single-machine version of the product for the platform requested. Each home-use license must be renewed annually. After your VCU employment status is verified, Wolfram Research will provide you with a home-use license.

Mathematica for Students

Mathematica Online

Mathematica Online allows you to browse, view, edit, and use interactive functions in your Mathematica notebook through the cloud. Providing instant access through the cloud enables the sharing of documents and resources. Mathematica Online may be accessed through a Web browser or mobile app.

Where to find the Mobile App

Wolfram provides a cloud app to access Mathematica Online through the iOS and Android Mobile device. Go to the Apple Store and Google Play to download Wolfram Cloud.

Mathematica On the App2Go Citrix Server

Using a Windows, Mac or Linux computer, you are able to access Mathematica via a browser window. Although Mathematica runs on the App2Go Citrix® Server, it appears to be running on your PC. You can open, save and print files from your PC. Applications on the App2Go server are available to support research projects and are not intended for instructional use. Five (5) concurrent use licenses of Mathematica are available for use by VCU researchers on the App2Go Server.

Current VCU faculty, staff, and students may access Mathematica on the App2Go Server for research. Documentation on how to use of the App2Go Server will provide you details such as system requirements, installation, opening files, saving files and printing.

Mathematica Tutorials

The first two tutorials are excellent for new users and can be assigned to students as homework to learn Mathematica outside of class time.

Hands-on Start to Mathematica (videos)Follow along in Mathematica as you watch this multi-part screencast that teaches you the basics—how to create your first notebook, calculations, visualizations, interactive examples, and more.

What's New in Mathematica 10Provides examples to help you get started with new functionality in Mathematica 10, including machine learning, computational geometry, geographic computation, and device connectivity.

How To TopicsAccess step-by-step instructions ranging from how to create animations to basic syntax information.

Learning CenterSearch Wolfram's large collection of materials for example calculations or tutorials in your field of interest.

Wolfram|Alpha Pro

Tour of Wolfram|AlphaNew to Wolfram|Alpha? Take a tour to learn what you can do with Wolfram|Alpha, and explore additional features you get with Wolfram|Alpha Pro.

Mathematica for Teaching and Education—Free video courseLearn how to make your classroom dynamic with interactive models, explore computation and visualization capabilities in Mathematica that make it useful for teaching practically any subject at any level, and get best-practice suggestions for course integration.

How To Create a Lecture Slideshow—Video tutorialLearn how to create a slideshow for a class that shows a mixture of graphics, calculations, and nicely formatted text, with live calculations or animations.

Research with Mathematica

Rather than requiring different toolkits for different jobs, Mathematica integrates the world's largest collection of algorithms, high-performance computing capabilities, and a powerful visualization engine in one coherent system, making it ideal for academic research in just about any discipline.